Romanian president says Romania want Moldova's accession to EU to take place quickly

Chisinau, 8 November /MOLDPRES/ - Romania wants the accession to the European Union of Moldova and Ukraine to take place quickly; yet, this does not mean ‘’today or tomorrow.’’ Romanian President Klaus Iohannis today expressed a position to this effect, in the context of the European Commission’s decision, which recommended that the European Union member countries initiate the negotiations on Moldova’s accession to EU, MOLDPRES informs, citing AGERPRES.      

„Our positions are not opposite, so as we do not misunderstand each other. It is now about the starting of the negotiations on accession. We know that these negotiations last for years; we know this from our own experience and we see, for instance, that they have already lasted very much time for some countries of the Western Balkans. Obviously we want the negotiations to start quickly. This does not mean accession; this means negotiations and preparation for accession. We, in Romania, want, for instance, the accession to take place quickly for Moldova and Ukraine, but this does not mean today or tomorrow,’’ Klaus Iohannis said.      

The Romanian president noted, at the same time, that EU, for its part, must make modifications. ‘’In parallel, I perfectly agreed that the Union must, for its part, make some modifications. And if I am allowed to repeat what I said at the last informal council in Granada – not only the candidate must prepare for accession, but also we, which are already in the European Union, must additionally prepare for this accession. It is about the improvement of the procedure, the improvement of procedures of negotiation. So, there is work to be done on behalf of both sides. I am optimistic that, in several years, we will manage to do the steps needed both on behalf of one side and on behalf of other state,’’ Iohannis noted.       

The European Commission has recommended that the European Union member states initiate the negotiations on Moldova’s accession to EU.